Oh I've read the decision and understand why the court decided what they did. It just doesn't doesn't seem like that strong of an argument.
And some of the criticisms of independence seem weak. "Known each other for 15 years?" I mean if I meet someone in 2008, may grab lunch a dozen times in between, I "know them". Am I beholden?
And titans? CEO of 21st Century Fox? Was he "hoodwinked"? And some of these people sat on the board for years, received compensation through stock grants, and the court says "they made $X million, so must be beholden to Musk". Does that mean boards need to be recycled every time they get paid lest they become "beholden"?
But that said, the court's decision was about the negotiation.
Shareholders still had a choice to approve the compensation package. In fact, for institutional investors, it was their fiduciary duty to do so. So your comment about the "abstention" just gets to that point - either shareholders decided they didn't care (ok) or they delegate their decision to the board (ok) or were negligent in their duties.
And the court's decision hinges on the idea that Musk was a "controlling shareholder", while only holding 21% of shares.
The courts will decide what the courts will, but the complaint comes across as "I never thought you would hit those targets, but now that you have, I want to reneg". I mean had Tesla gone belly up would they have complained about the compensation package?
> that most of the world...disagrees with you take
Well thankfully their opinions, like my own or yours, don't really matter, am I right?
We'll see how the appeal court feels with this judge's opinion of "This decision dares to “boldly go where no man has gone before,”2 or at least where no Delaware courthas tread."